Thursday, October 27, 2016

Ok, I've pretty much accepted the fact that I'll never look anything like Gigi Hadid unless I walk around with the outside of this perfume box using the face swap filter from Snapchat. I'll never be able to wear teeny leather trousers like her. No, I'd be Ross from Friends with the lotion and the powder, making myself a pair of paste pants. But thanks to the launch of Tommy Hilfiger The Girl, I'll at least be able to smell like her!

Who remembers Tommy Girl from back in the day? Did you know that launched 20 years ago? So when I was like 5.... Ahem... Shhh. Gigi Hadid was probably only a twinkle in her mammy's eye back then... And now she's the inspiration behind and the face of The Girl by Tommy Hilfiger. The bottle is the same shape as Tommy Girl (one of my first fancy perfumes way back when) and this time it has a blue logo and red anchor to go with the nautical vibes of the ad campaign.

Now when I smell this, I can see how it reflects her "optimistic attitude, confidence and effortlessly cool style" because it's a really uplifting, bright and easy to wear fragrance. It isn't overpowering, hasn't caused the girls at work to ask me what in the jaysis am I wearing and is one I'll be wearing for months. When I wear it, I feel cooler like Gigi but I will give you an elbow in the face if you try to lift me up on the street. Boom.

The top notes of green pear, violet leaf and green fig leaves is fresh and crisp before the heart notes of jasmine petals and silky muguet take over when it settles on the skin. Warm base notes of cedarwood and casherman finish off the fragrance and all I'm missing is a cosy off the shoulder jumper, tousled hair and my transformation to Gigi is fully complete.

This partnership is such a good fit and I look forward to seeing what else they come up with together.

The Girl by Tommy Hilfiger is on counters now and prices are really reasonable (Christmas gifts perhaps?!). 30ml is €25, 50ml is €35 and 100ml is €46. Obsessed!

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

I think you'll probably know at this stage that I love autumn and everything about it. We're talking weather, food, clothes and makeup. Oh the makeup! I can't get enough of warm toned shadows this time of year and Inglot's What A Spice collection is pure autumn perfection. With a range of shadows, lipsticks, lip liners and nail polishes in the What A Spice collection, Inglot have killed it this season!

I was sent four of the ten eyeshadows from the collection and have my eye on one more, shade 300, which I think will make the perfect transition shade to work with these beauts. The freedom eyeshadows are only €6 (you get the eyeshadow in the pan as shown in the photos below, not in a palette), the freedom palettes can be bought here and you can get as big or as small a palette as you'd like. The Freedom system flexi palette in black is €22 and you can put whatever you want in it as the base is magnetic.

But let's talk eyeshadow shall we?

Shade 299 is a deep, rich mid toned brown shade with copper undertones to it and I'd be happy to go about my life with it all over my eyelid as a wash of colour, or under my lower lashes to add a bit of interest to a neutral eye.

Shade 303 is unlike anything else in my collection and things like that make me happy. I've no deep dusky pink shades at all and I've been enjoying using it and trying something new.

Shade 304 is a cool toned brown and is one of those staple colours to have in your collection if you're fond of a smoky eye. Shades like this one are great for adding definition in the outer corner and along the lash line if you don't want to tackle a winged liner. There is not one single time in life where I can get an eyeliner flick to work when I'm under any kind of time constraint, so it's smudgy smoky eyes all the way.

Shade 305 is a warm mid toned brown with light golden undertones to it. Any time I've used this, I've watched my eyes change colour! Ok, not literally, but warm shades like this one make my eyes so much greener and who doesn't want their eyes to pop?

It goes without saying that Inglot do some of the best eyeshadows on the market. I've spoken in detail about their colour payoff, lack of fall out and their fantastic quality in general so I won't repeat myself. Even though I kind of just did. Yes, going into an Inglot shop can be daunting when you're trying to pick out shades because the selection is massive, but having collections like this one makes it a bit easier to whittle it down and the staff are always really helpful if the shadows all start to look the same!

Stay tuned to my Instagram (@lovelygirlybits) for looks using the shades but until then, if you're on the hunt for some gorgeously warm toned eyeshadows to get your smoky eye on, then check out the What A Spice collection online or in stores now.

Monday, October 17, 2016

It's been a while since I've tried a foundation from Maybelline and the new Maybelline Fit Me Matte & Poreless foundation was totally worth waiting for. I think by now, regular readers will see that I tend to have a soft spot for the more budget friendly foundations over the higher end ones. What can I say? I love what makes my face look nice!. This one is under a tenner and has been my go to base for the last two weeks. If you're following me on Snapchat, you'll know I'm staying with Mam this month so could only bring a few makeup bits with me. For foundations I brought my Charlotte Tilbury Magic Foundation, Lancome's Teint Idole Cushion Foundation and Maybelline's one and it's the one I've been reaching for every morning. I'm up earlier so need something I can literally slap on and look alive!

Squeezy tubes make me so happy. I know. Shut up. But it means I don't have to worry about dropping it. I'm supremely clumsy so this is a factor I need to consider... Aimed at normal to oily skin, it has blurring micro powders which help refine the appearance of pores while keeping shine at bay. It definitely does a good job at blurring the massive pores on my nose and gives a medium yet natural coverage on the skin which you can see in the before and after photos below. Now while it does a great job of giving me a naturally flawless finish to my mush, if I want it to stay put all day, I still need to powder my nose and centre of my forehead in order to stay matte past lunch time. That doesn't bother me because I love everything else about it, but it's worth noting if you're prone to oiliness.

I was sent shade 115 and it's definitely more yellow toned meaning it covers the redness on my nose and cheeks and once I blend it down my neck a bit, it's a great match for me. The matte finish which is initially there after I first apply it doesn't look flat or cakey and even when I top it with a bit of powder, it looks perfect. Cream and powder blushes go on easily over the top and with the slight issue with my oily schnoz post lunch, I can't fault this base at all at all.

Maybelline's Fit Me Matte & Poreless foundation is on stands now, is well worth the €8.99 and for the normal to oily skinned of us, is definitely worth checking out. It only comes in six shades which seems to be the norm now when it comes to budget foundations, so go forth and swatch before ordering it online!

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

For ages now I've been harping on about how excited I am for autumn and all that comes with it, but how is it October already?! Where did September go? I'm so happy to be back in all my scarves and cosy jumpers and I'm also happy to be getting stuck into makeup outside of my comfort zone.

Autumn means I can amp up the makeup and when I say amp up, I mean pile it on. Yes, forget the dewy glow and coral lips and cheeks. I'm all about the smoky eyes, matte skin and darker lip these days and in a recent play about with makeup, I picked out six plum shades from my collection and am reporting back on which ones to check out and which one to miss.

I'm trying to be braver in my lipstick choices (you know me, I'm a nude lover) and I think a nice plum is a good transition into the darker vampier shades that I'm going to try and wear this autumn and winter. And something I've noticed is that I can wear shades like these without having to wear anything on my eyes other than mascara. I look put together and while my inner dialogue is along the lines of "Oh please please please don't let my lipstick be up my face, on my teeth, please let me look sophisticated and ladylike!"

Now, tell me if I'm crazy but do these plum lipsticks make my eyeballs look greener?

Let's start off with an oldie but a goodie. While MAC's Rebel has a special place in my heart and I've owned it for years now and should probably Back To Mac it, I can't part with it just yet. In saying that, some of the shades I have below are really similar to it so I could probably get rid of it and not miss it. But not yet. Maybe in January when I do an aul spring clean. This is a cult classic for good reason. It's pretty perfect for a plum lipstick and when I apply it, I'm sure it makes the leaves change colour a bit quicker. It's €20, so the most expensive of the bunch, but in terms of colour payoff, comfort and longevity, it's definitely worth checking out the next time you're standing at a MAC lipstick counter feeling a bit overwhelmed!

I've been wearing Wet N Wild's Silk Finish Lipstick in Blind Date quite a bit in real life and on Snapchat and it's a shade that I'm asked about lots when I have it on. This is one of my favourite finds of the year so far because the formula is right up my street being nice and opaque, is really moisturising and has a slight glossy finish, making it comfortable to wear. It's not as dark as the other shades here, but that makes it more wearable for a scaredy cat like me and at a piddly €1.99, you'd be mad not to pick it up. Mad I tell you! This is what I had on when I went to Arnotts last week and I love it!

Over the course of my six years blogging, I've tried out my fair share of matte lipsticks and I can honestly say I've never come across anything like the Cailyn Pure Luxe Lipsticks (I have to change the caption in the photo above, doh!). Lads, you know matte lipsticks that go on nicely but then set dry? Yeah this doesn't do that. This tugged and pulled at my lips like nothing else on this earth when I was applying it and ended up looking so patchy when I was finished trying to make it work. It looks lovely and velvety on my lips in the photo above but I couldn't wait to take it off so I can't comment on how long it lasts. I don't think it's worth shelling out €19.50 for, especially considering the more affordable options I've mentioned here today and sure an extra 50 cent will get you MAC's Rebel. If you've dry lips, then they've probably shrivelled up just reading that paragraph.

Again, I'm back on the comfortable, glossy, pigmented bandwagon and Rimmel's The Only 1 Lipstick in Under My Spell is one of my all time favourite lipsticks. It's a really flattering shade to wear and can be blotted down to give more of a stain effect. It's the most fragranced of all the lipsticks I'm talking about today but I don't mind it at all because it only lasts a few seconds. I'd recommend using a liner with this one just because the slanted shape of the bullet makes it hard to get a precise line at the edge of the lips, but it's a winner at €8.99 and good luck going into Boots and buying just one of these babies!

For fans of matte lipsticks, forget the Cailyn one and have a goo at Wet N Wild's MegaLast Lip Colour in Sugar Plum Fairy. It's €2.99, is a near perfect dupe to MAC's Rebel and is what a matte lipstick should be. It lasts for ages, doesn't dry out my lips and fades evenly. The only downside is the packaging. The lid doesn't click shut and so I can't put it in the front of my handbag, or anywhere out and about really because it gets everywhere! But you can be safe in the knowledge that you can apply it in the morning and leave it at home because it stays put for ages, fading evenly to leave your lips stained.

Essence's Matt Matt Matt Lipstick in Purple Power isn't purple and is a newbie to the collection. It's what I was wearing on Snapchat the other evening, tormenting you by not showing you which one it was! It has less of the purple undertones that the others have and can be worn dabbed onto the lips as a stain or opaquely as above. It's one of those mattes that has slip in it, so it has a tendency to move slightly when you're eating or drinking, but it won't dry the lips out. I was sent this shade and a nude one too and at €2.90, they're fantastic budget lipsticks that are well worth checking out.

And that's my run down of plum lipsticks to check out and avoid. I think the budget brands are kicking serious ass this year and hope they keep doing so because girlfriend here is on a budget at the moment and doesn't want to spend too much cashola on makeup but still wants to try lots out!